


Red String Theory

by bisexualbarry



Series: soulmate fics [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Barry Allen Works For The SCPD, Bisexual Barry Allen, Fluff, Happy Ending, Kinda, M/M, Past Laurel Lance/Oliver Queen, Protective Oliver Queen, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-21 04:49:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14908650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bisexualbarry/pseuds/bisexualbarry
Summary: "According to the myth, the gods tie an invisible red string around the little finger of people who are destined to be soulmates, and will one day marry each other. It can get twisted and knotted, but it will never be broken."





	Red String Theory

**Author's Note:**

> honestly this didn't turn out anything like i wanted?? but it's still a decent story, so im posting it anyway
> 
> it doesn't follow any story line of arrow's or flash's, tbqh, im only on season 1 of arrow, so lol. plus a lot of olivarry fics tend to run the same in how they met with oliver choking barry and whatnot since that what happens in the show (im assuming since it's in a lot of fics), so i decided to take my own route (:
> 
> im sorry for any errors. i wrote this in a couple hours since i saw the prompt (the summary) on tumblr/instagram and wanted to write it

It started as a gentle tug.

Barry could feel it. The way a pressure on his left pinkie finger tightened just a fraction before releasing, leaving Barry confused and staring at his hand. He knew of the red string theory. Not everyone had a soulmate, but the ones who did usually led the happiest lives. It was genetic, in a way. People who had a soulmate were more likely to have children who had one, too, although it wasn't always necessarily the case. Many people had children who had soulmates, or soulmate parents had children who didn't. Either case was rare, but it was something that happened often enough. Barry himself was a child of soulmates. His parents had met in college, and hit it off well. It wasn't until his mother was in a minor car accident did Henry realise Nora was the one. There was always a tug on the string when your soulmate was injured.

When Barry felt the tug on his, he briefly wondered what his soulmate could've gotten into, before bursting into squeals to tell his parents he had a soulmate. Finding a soulmate based on feeling alone was next to impossible, and many couples often went without finding their other half. When they did, however, they were some of the happiest couples on the planet. It was hard to steer them away from each other once a connection had been made. For Barry, the possibility of finding his and being happy beyond words, was a dream waiting to come true. His parents were proud, albeit a little worried. Barry had always been open with his feelings, and extremely trusting, so they were concerned he'd end up in a situation where he'd get hurt. Barry, on the other hand, had no such worries.

Shortly after his mother died, and his dad was in jail, Barry found himself living with Joe and Iris West. They both believed Barry's story (you'd have to be a truly twisted individual to murder your wife/soulmate. The type of person Henry Allen was not), and easily adapted the boy into their lives. Because of the close bond between the two kids, Barry was convinced Iris was his soulmate. Every time Iris got hurt, however, Barry adamantly ignored the lack of tugging on his finger. It wasn't until Iris revealed to Barry that she didn't have a soulmate. Her family had a long history of being without a person who had one, and despite knowing she'd never felt a tug on her finger, she was fairly confident she was an everyday person. It was safe to say Barry was fairly devastated by the news.

At the age of twenty-three, Barry packed his bags and moved to the neighboring city of Starling, something both Joe and Iris fought up and down against. But Barry was determined, if not extremely stubborn, and did it anyway. He was the youngest person working there, but quickly became the most trusted CSI. As someone who could be rather oblivious already, Barry was so used to the almost constant tug on his finger for the past five years, it was startling to realise he couldn't feel it anymore. In fact, his finger went almost numb with the relief of the pressure. As alarming as it had been at first, it quickly became something of a comfort. A reminder that his soulmate was still out there, despite the constant pain they seemed to find themselves in. Coincidentally, around the time his finger was free of the pressure, Oliver Queen came back from the dead.

Growing up in the same house as someone like Iris, Barry was well aware of who the man was. Iris' fangirling, if anything, only escalated after Barry came out as bisexual. Barry couldn't deny it, though, Oliver Queen was a rather good looking man. His eyes alone always made Barry a bit weak in the knees. And that was only seeing them in a photograph. He could only imagine what would happen if he saw those gorgeous eyes in person. So the problem wasn't knowing who he was, rather, it was all the coincidences that popped up as soon as he came home.

Not only did Barry's finger get a break (a coincidence he didn't pay much mind to, if he was being honest), but a Vigilante popped up, killing people with a lot of money. A man Barry worked with, named Quentin Lance, was bound and determined to stop the killer, and put him behind bars. Even if he wasn't a CSI like Barry, Quentin was well aware of the timing of everything. It almost made Barry scared for both Oliver and the Vigilante. Personally, he thought the Vigilante was doing alright. Not everybody he killed, or even attacked, was someone well known. Crime had started its decrease (albeit very slowly), and resulted in Barry actually having a rare slow day at work. With how everything kept lining up, it made Barry start to grow suspicious. He wasn't one for keeping an eye on the news all the time, but Iris and his new friend Laurel Lance (Quentin's daughter had a habit of popping into the station a lot. Their friendship was more accidental than anything) always kept him in the loop. Laurel kept in contact with the arrow wielding menace (Quentin's words, not his), so Barry was rather well informed of what was going on. It sometimes helped him with cases, to know what exactly happened, but he didn't appreciate the looks he was starting to get from the detective once he realised Barry was siding with Laurel.

It wasn't until a random day during the summer when Barry finally put two and two together.

He had been going over an old case file, around the time Oliver had been house bound that resulted in him getting attacked. The Hood (as he was known as now) had been spotted elsewhere, leading to the pressure on Oliver being released. But one thing didn't make sense to Barry. If Oliver had a bodyguard, then where was he when Oliver got attacked? Surely, if he was there, then Oliver would've had someone there to protect him, or at least someone to grab a policeman's attention before Oliver got seriously hurt. But he was nowhere to be found. In fact, the bodyguard was last spotted downstairs, at least twenty minutes before the Hood was spotted. So if he was at the house...then where was he?

Once Barry had this thought, he poured over everything that had been related to the Hood. He worked under the impression that Oliver's bodyguard, John Diggle, was the man under the hood. As someone had a military background, it made a lot of sense. It wasn't until Barry discovered John was out of town during one of the Hood's heists did he hit a dead end. In turn, Barry focused his efforts onto his second suspension– Oliver Queen. Things started adding up more and more as he dug further and further. He listened to audio recordings they had their hands on, altering them until he got a recognizable voice– Oliver's. After that, he studied photographs, techniques, any notes they had on the hooded man against Oliver until he had a reasonable amount of proof to claim that Oliver Queen was the Hood. And John Diggle was his right hand man.

It made sense for the Hood to have a partner. If Oliver was in fact the vigilante (which he was), having a partner would help take the pressure off Oliver. Have John Diggle dress up in the uniform and allow himself to be spotted while Oliver was stuck at home with a monitoring anklet. That way it appeared that Oliver wasn't anything more than the partying billionaire he worked so hard to keep up. The results left Barry's head spinning, and just the thought of turning his findings in made Barry's stomach swirl in discomfort. He couldn't do that. Despite his unorthodox methods, the Hood did do some good for the city of Starling.

It wasn't until later on in the year that he decided to confront Oliver. By that time, Oliver had recruited not only John Diggle, but also an IT expert by the name of Felicity Smoak. Tentatively, he walked into the Verdant where he saw the three of them standing by the bar. He cleared his throat softly, his grip on the manila folder tightening the slightest bit when three pairs of eyes whipped in his direction. Just as Barry had predicted, meeting the blue of Oliver's eyes made his knees too weak for his liking. Still, he powered through it.

"M-Mr. Queen, may I have a word with you in private, please?" he asked, his voice a little stronger than he originally gave himself credit for, but you could still hear his nerves.

The two men exchanged a quick look before Oliver was leading them off to the side where they wouldn't be interrupted. "Who are you? And do your parents know you're here?"

Letting out a soft huff, Barry relaxed a little. "I'm Barry Allen, and I work for the SCPD." He then handed the folder over to the other man. "I haven't shown this to anybody else, but I figured you should still know."

Quirking an eyebrow, Oliver accepted the folder. He kept up his confused expression as he opened it, flipping through all the paperwork Barry had collected throughout his time researching. When he was finished, Oliver's face was expressionless, but his eyes showed anger mixed in with a bit of fear. "You know."

"Well, yes. As a CSI, I have all the resources to decode your voice distorter, plus both you and the Hood happen to carry yourself the same way. When you put in the time and effort, it's actually quite easy to deduce," Barry explained, slowly quieting down as Oliver looked more and more angry. "I haven't told anyone, I swear. I didn't even plan on it. With everything that's happened, I didn't want to spill what information I've collected to the police. It's been hard enough doing it on my own with Detective Lance breathing down my neck."

Oliver still hadn't spoken, leaving Barry extremely nervous. When he did finally speak, it was with a clear anger. "Did you think, at any moment, that maybe I didn't want to be found out? No offense, CSI Allen, but finding this stuff out wasn't any of your business."

Barry swallowed thickly. "I-I'm sorry," he stuttered out. "I just...I figured since I'm on your side with everything, that it might be helpful to have someone on the inside that knows? Like, um, like when y-you leave a crime scene bleeding. I could clean up the blood before anybody realises it was there in the first place."

"And put your job at risk? Are you that stupid?"

"I'm not stupid!" Barry all but shouted, glaring at the billionaire. "I was able to figure out you put arrows in people, and not tell anyone. If I was you, I'd be thankful that I've kept my mouth shut thus far."

Their argument had caught the attention of Oliver's companions, who had wandered closer to where Barry and Oliver were, watching what was happening with quiet interest. Oliver still looked peeved, but the look wasn't as intense. "What do you want, then?"

"I don't want anything from you," Barry said, his voice calm as he shot the words out at Oliver. "I never have, _Mr. Queen_. But if I were you, I'd start counting my lucky stars where I have them. I've kept quiet about this because I think you're doing good for the city. But, quite frankly, if you keep treating me like I'm an imbecile, don't think I'll keep my mouth shut for you." Barry yanked the file out of Oliver's hand, ignoring the way the folder sliced into the man's finger, leaving behind a small amount of blood. "Respect is earned, Mr. Queen, not expected just because you have money." With that, he stormed past the trio and out of the club. He could feel eyes burning into his back, but he ignored it in favor of getting out of the Glades.

**~*~**

"I need your help."

Keeping his eyes down on his desk, Barry let out a sigh when he recognized the voice that came from the figure standing in the lab's doorway. He had a hunch Oliver would eventually come find him, but he hoped it'd take longer than a few days for the billionaire to find himself in the lab. Barry looked up boredly, seeing Oliver holding a jacket in his hands, nervously twisting part of it in his hands. "My help?" he inquired, sitting up in his chair to look at Oliver. Crossing his arms over his chest, he couldn't help the slight glare his stare had turned into. "I thought I was risking my job to do that? And I was stupid to do so?"

"That's not–" Oliver started, before quickly cutting himself off and sighing. "Look, I'm sorry for what I said. I wasn't trying to imply that you're stupid. In fact, I think you're quite intelligent for figuring out...my job. Felicity says I get rather defensive when I get cornered like with what happened the other day."

"Really? I wouldn't have noticed," Barry remarked sarcastically. "With the whole way you got angry at me and whatnot."

Oliver released the tight grip on his jacket, setting it down on the nearest table. "I'm sorry, Barry. But you have to understand that when someone comes to me saying they know I'm...him, it's quite a shock."

"I do understand why you got angry, if that's what you're trying to say," Barry spoke up, relieving Oliver of trying to explain his feelings. Barry had a hunch it was something Oliver didn't do regularly. "It doesn't mean I like it, but I do understand why." When Oliver didn't add on, Barry sighed and dropped his arms. "What do you need my help with?"

"Thank you," Oliver said quietly before handing over a syringe. Where he was hiding it, Barry wasn't sure he wanted to know. "I have a sneaking suspicion vertigo is making a comeback, but I wanted you to run it so I'd be a bit more certain."

"You know if this vertigo, I have an obligation to report it to my boss," Barry reminded. "Ever since the first go around, the captain made us all swear to report to him with any new leads regarding it."

Oliver shifted uncomfortably. "Can you do so after you give me the results? And say it came from an anonymous source?"

Barry was quiet a moment before he sighed. "Yeah, I will," he said. "This shouldn't take too long. If you have a number I can contact when I'm done, I'll let you know."

Pulling a phone out of his pocket, Oliver handed it to Barry, who furrowed his eyebrows. "It's similar to the phone Laurel has. This way, if you need to contact me with information and the Hood happens to know about it, it won't be traced back to me."

"Alright," Barry replied, frowning a little as he accepted the handed out device. "Is that all?"

"Yes." Oliver grabbed his coat and headed out of the lab without another word. Sighing softly, Barry turned to get to work.

**~*~**

Working with Oliver, _the Hood_ , turned out to be easier than Barry anticipated. Hiding it from both his captain and the seemingly bloodthirsty Detective Lance proved to be a bit more challenging, but Barry managed fine. He'd run tests for Oliver when needed, and even had to clean up the other man's blood after the Hood got hit. No one suspected the quiet CSI was helping the vigilante, and Barry was suddenly extremely thankful the other officers had a tendency to look over their youngest co-worker. Barry had yet to actually step foot in Oliver's base of operation, or talk to the other people he worked with, but it made sense for Barry to not be seen with him. Not that Oliver Queen was suspected to be the Hood (as of lately), but it still didn't hurt to avoid any possibilities when they could. Quentin was growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of leads regarding the hooded fiend, even more so when the Hood always managed to be there before the cops, and the fact he always seemed to have the inside knowledge needed to find the suspect before them.

"We have a mole," Detective Lance announced as they were all gathered for a briefing. Usually, Barry wasn't called to these things, but the captain required them all to be present today, so they could flush out the newly announced mole. "Someone who works here has been helping the Hood with the criminals recently. We need to find who they are, and get them out before anything worse can be done."

Barry wisely kept quiet. Instead, his eyes scanned over the officers, who were all in different levels of surprise as they turned to one another. He himself tried his best to appear shocked by the news, but he never was the best actor. He just hoped he was too transparent. It seemed to have worked because no one turned his way after hearing the announcement. Once again, it worked well in his favor to be quiet and relatively looked over. After the meeting let out, Barry bounded straight up to his lab and grabbed a phone out of his messenger bag. Quickly making sure no one would hear him, Barry called Oliver.

 _"What's wrong?"_ was the first thing out of Oliver's mouth. Even after using the phone quite a few times, Barry couldn't get over the sound of the man's voice distorted.

"Detective Lance suspects a mole in SCPD considering you always seem to know what's happening," Barry filled in quickly and quietly. "He doesn't have any leads as to who, but I think my help with you needs to take a short break. I really don't mind helping you, but I need this job."

There was silence over the line for awhile, making Barry think Oliver had hung up. But then the distorted voice of the Hood was quick to calm Barry's worries. _"That's a good idea. Let me know when things die down so I can contact you again if I need any help that requires a CSI."_

"Okay," Barry agreed. "I'll talk to you later." He hung up afterward, already knowing Oliver never goodbye anyway. He glanced out the door after hiding the phone back in his bag, relieved when no one noticed the slightly frantic CSI hiding in his lab. "That was close."

It wasn't for another few weeks did things at SCPD really calm down in terms of the mole. Quentin was getting frustrated because after the briefing, the Hood calmed down in terms of always being to a scene before them, or even having inside knowledge. The reason for things calming down for awhile was the mere fact that Laurel blew up at her dad for some reason Barry couldn't catch. Laurel had ranted to him, later on, but he was too lost in his own thoughts to really notice.

Barry went back to working with Oliver, but it wasn't until Oliver went missing did Barry feel the insistent tugging on his pinkie. Over the years, he had grown used to the small tugs that resulted from whatever stupid things his soulmate was doing. Every so often, there'd be a sharper tug, but it wasn't anything Barry hadn't already dealt with for five years straight. But the sharp painful tugs on his finger were almost too much to bear. He wasn't actually being hurt physically, but the emotional pain that came with the tugging brought tears to Barry's eyes. It hurt _so much_. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on who you asked), Barry was at work when it happened. Laurel was coming up to his lab after another yelling match with her father when she found Barry cradling his hand to his chest.

"Barry, oh my god, are you alright?" Laurel asked when she noticed the tears in Barry's eyes.

"My finger," Barry managed out, showing Laurel his hand. " _God_ , it hurts so much."

"Your finger?" Laurel asked confused. "Oh! Your soulmate? Who is it?"

"I don't know, but they're going through something right now. Whether physical or mental, I'm not entirely sure, but it must be a lot for them to handle."

"Is there anything I can do?" Laurel was rubbing his back, which helped to calm Barry down. As suddenly as it started, it stopped, leaving Barry's pinkie finger throbbing with phantom pain.

"It stopped now, but..." Barry trailed off, staring at his hand like it betrayed it. "I need to figure out who my soulmate is so I can slap them. I've had to deal with this constantly for years now."

Laurel furrowed her eyebrows. "Years? When did it start getting really bad?"

"Like six years ago?" Barry guessed. "For five years, it was on and off bad, and then I had a bit of a break for a year. Obviously, it didn't stop, but it wasn't as bad."

Barry didn't meet Laurel's eyes as she stood there thinking. He was too preoccupied with making sure his finger still worked to notice the look of concentration on his friend's face. Suddenly, she gasped. "Barry? I think I know who your soulmate might be."

"What? Who?" Barry asked, finally looking up at the other person in the room.

"Oliver. Think about it! For five years, you said you had on and off pain. Oliver was stranded on an island for five years. He...he revealed in a police interview that he had been tortured while on the island, plus any types of survival. And then he's been back for a year now. There's the year of break! Oliver's been in a few scuffles now and again, that could be the every so often."

"But what about now?" Barry couldn't deny Laurel's logic. It made too much sense to deny.

"Oliver's missing." Laurel sat on Barry's desk in front of him. "We don't know what's happening to him, so it'd make some sense that you're feeling _something_."

Barry bit his bottom lip, still flexing his finger every so often. "It makes sense. But...Oliver and I? Laurel, please. We're two different people."

Laurel rolled her eyes. "Quit being stubborn! You yourself said it makes sense. Even if you are two completely different people, you can't deny that you two would work well together. You're both stubborn as hell, for one, but you're both insanely caring people."

"I...I don't know, Laurel..."

"At least think about it, then?" Laurel lightly squeezed Barry's arm. "C'mon. You've been here all day, and Dad mentioned in passing he never saw you come out for lunch. You must be starving. Let's go get some food."

"Okay," Barry said with a laugh. He got all of his things together and started his walk out with Laurel. "Thank you, by the way, for not judging or anything. I haven't exactly told many people about the whole...soulmate thing."

"Oh, it's not a problem, Bear." Laurel waved her hand. "I completely understand. One of my friends has a soulmate and she's totally over the moon for him."

"I, um. You're not like bothered by the fact that Oliver might be my soulmate, are you?" he asked. "I know the whole history between you two. Or, you know, that my soulmate's a guy?"

"Barry," Laurel said sternly, stopping them where they were stood on the sidewalk. "For one, I don't care who you date, okay? Everybody deserves to love who they love. You can't control that. For second, I knew from the start that Oliver had a soulmate. I've known him since we were kids, and he'd often subconsciously rub his pinkie finger. I knew we wouldn't work together, but it was worth a try anyway since Oliver seemed to ignore the fact he had a soulmate." She gave him a sweet smile. "So, I'm not at all bothered by anything that may happen. For the record, if I'm right, I'm glad you're the one he's destined to be with. You'd be good for him. He needs someone like you in his life."

Barry blushed at Laurel's words before pulling the girl into a hug. "Thank you," he said softly. After he pulled away, he couldn't help but chuckle. "I did always find Oliver insanely attractive. No matter how many times I see him, his eyes always make me weak in the knees. They're my weakness."

"Oh god, I know, right?" Laurel asked, hooking their arms together as they started walking again.

**~*~**

It took roughly two weeks to get Oliver back.

The whole time, Barry's hidden away in his lab, helping as much as he could. John Diggle had taken responsibility of both being the Hood, and talking to Barry on the phone. With Oliver missing, they didn't want to take any chance to have any suspicion on him about being said vigilante. It seemed to work more than they hoped. Detective Lance had dropped any suspicion of Oliver, and instead helped in any attempts to find the lost billionaire. It was kind of surprising, if Barry was being honest, how quickly Quentin dropped his Oliver suspicions and helped to find him. But, he supposed, you couldn't argue with logic and facts when you were handed them on a silver platter.

When Oliver got back, he immediately went back to work. With the club, at Queen Consolidated, and, of course, as the Hood. A rogue alliance of one of Hood's enemies got a little too brave and decided to kidnap the Hood while he was out on patrol. Thankfully they had a backup suit prepared for Diggle to use, and the media or police hadn't gotten ahold of what little video footage there was to see that it was Hood that got taken, and not just Oliver. Barry had yet to meet Oliver's other teammates, but based on what Oliver's said, Felicity was a genius with computers, and had effectively erased any trace that would lead the police to Oliver. Any and all loose ends would be handled by Barry at the SCPD itself.

But Barry was human, and he craved other human interaction.

"Please, Ollie?" Barry asked with a pout. He had learned very quickly that the older man couldn't resist Barry's pout, and he liked using it to his advantage. "I've been working with you and your team for, like, a year now. I think I deserve to meet them by now."

" _Fine_ ," Oliver said with a huff. His arms were crossed over his chest. Barry had been asking for awhile to meet the others, but Oliver had always denied until today. He wasn't sure why Oliver didn't want him to formerly meet Felicity and Diggle, but he was getting frustrated. "You can join them tonight when I'm out on patrol."

"Thank you, Ollie!" Barry said happily, springing out of his chair to hug the man. He hummed happily when Oliver wrapped his arms around Barry in return. They stood there hugging before Barry pulled away with a large grin. "I was starting to think you didn't like working with me."

"Why would you think that?" Oliver asked, confused, his hands not moving from their position from where they sat on Barry's hips.

"Well I've been working with you for awhile now, and you haven't made any mention of me meeting your team," Barry explained. "It made me think you were only using me as like a CSI assistant. Which technically I am, here, but I didn't like feeling like that's all I am to you, too."

"Barry, no." Oliver gently squeezed Barry's hips, making the latter flush. "I enjoy working with you. The only reason...the only reason I haven't brought you to meet them is that I like feeling like you're something I don't have to share with anybody." He shifted a bit uncomfortably, dropping his hands. It was then that Barry realised just how close they were standing to each other, but neither made a move to back away. "I like hearing your voice when you call. I'm scared that if I start hearing your voice in my comms, I might either get distracted, or one of my enemies could find out about you. I can't have that sort of protective wall with the other two anymore, so I was trying to keep that with you."

"O-oh?" Barry breathed out, his blush intensifying the longer he kept eye contact with Oliver. "Why, uh...why is that?"

"Because you've managed to wiggle your way past my barriers," Oliver answered honestly. "When we met, I yelled at you, and you yelled back. And now we're standing here, and all I want...all I want to do is hold you close and keep you safe."

"Really?" Barry asked, a small smile on his face.

"I can't describe why, or even how, I'm feeling like this. Like everything just makes sense when we're talking, or in the same room together." Oliver gently cupped Barry's cheek, softly stroking the younger man's cheekbone. "Those two weeks I was gone, the only thought that kept me going was coming home to see you."

"Oliver, I think we're soulmates," Barry admitted, voice soft so he wouldn't break the atmosphere that had been created. "I was talking about it with Laurel when you were gone. Those five years you were on that island, I...I thought my finger would never stop throbbing in pain from the tug."

"That would explain the feeling I get when you hurt yourself by being a klutz." That drew a laugh from the two. "But it would also explain how intense my emotions seem to get whenever I'm around you. I...the whole year we've worked together has been...rough for me. Being away from you, keeping you safe here in your lab. The last thing I want to happen to you is you getting hurt because I have the need to put a few arrows in people."

Barry smiled, moving his arms to gently rest around Oliver's neck once more. Oliver moved his hand back down to Barry's hip as they stood there. Just as their lips brushed together, Oliver's phone blared from where it was put in his back pocket.

Cursing softly under his breath, Oliver pulled away and got his phone out of his pocket. Barry could hear a feminine voice on the other side before Oliver hung up. "Good stuff?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," Oliver replied. "I have to head to the base to grab my things and get changed, do you want to come with?"

The smile on Barry's face was blinding as he nodded quickly. He got his things together before heading out with Oliver. After racking up extra hours trying to find said billionaire, the captain didn't question it as the CSI headed out early for the day. They passed by Laurel, who gave Barry a smile and a wink as they passed.

"I still can't believe you're friends with my ex," Oliver muttered, laughing after.

"She's lovely," Barry replied. "I have no regrets befriending her. Although, it was kind of accidental. She came in a lot to argue with her dad about different things, and then she'd storm into the break room, where I usually was. Now, I'm usually in my lab, but I liked to spend my free time in the break room because my blood is practically coffee at this point."

Oliver laughed, a pleasant sound to Barry's ears. When they got to Verdant, Barry grew confused. It wasn't until they reached a door Barry hadn't seen before when he understood where they were going. Diggle turned when he heard more footsteps than normal, smiling when he met Barry's eyes.

"You must be Barry," he said, stretching his hand out. "I'm John Diggle, but you can call me Diggle, if you'd like. Both Oliver and Felicity do. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Likewise," Barry said, grinning as he shook Diggle's hand. He then turned to the female in the room. "Hi, Felicity, right?"

"Yes!" Felicity replied happily. She stood up and pulled Barry into a hug. He chuckled and hugged her back. "Sorry, I'm a hugger."

"Don't worry, Barry is, too," Oliver spoke up, placing his hand on Barry's lower back after Barry had pulled away. "I have to go, but make yourself at home."

It was then that Barry noticed that Oliver was dressed and ready to head out. Barry nodded, watching as the archer dashed out of the base. He scrunched his nose before turning to the other two. "He needs a mask. The grease paint only does so much. Doesn't really hide much."

"Well you're a scientist, if you can make one, go for it," Felicity piped up from where she sat in front of her computers, typing away with a comm in her ear.

Barry hummed softly, smiling to himself at the thought. "I could do that," he said to himself. His eyes widened when he saw all the chemicals on the shelf. "Oh lord, I need to reorganize your chemical shelf. This will not do."

Diggle had a smile on his face as he watched Barry do what he needed before turning to help Felicity with Oliver. Barry was soon joining them, pointing out and helping when he could. By the time Oliver had returned for the night, all the medical supplies and numerous chemicals had been completely reorganized and cleaned. Quirking an eyebrow at the sight, Felicity and Diggle merely shrugged in response while Barry grinned.

"You needed it. You had chemicals near each other that react to one another. It was an accident waiting to happen," he babbled, pointing to a few. "So I did what I had to so you–"

Barry was quickly cut off by a pair of chapped lips pressed against his own. He squeaked in surprise before relaxing against Oliver and kissing back. By the time he was able to catch his breath, Oliver was just grinning at him. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. You are insanely cute when you start rambling about different science things. That, and I really wanted to kiss you. We got a bit interrupted earlier."

"Sorry for inconveniencing you," Felicity muttered, but there wasn't any malice behind it.

Barry hummed happily, pulling Oliver in for another kiss. "For what it's worth, I'm glad my string kept pulled on for those five years. It let me know you were still alive. In pain, yes, but still alive and waiting for me to meet you."

"I'm glad, too," Oliver said softly, kissing Barry's temple. "I have the most wonderful soulmate."

**Author's Note:**

> since this didn't turn out the way i really wanted it to, i may rewrite this prompt later, lol. i wanted to actually incorporate greek mythology into this fic, but as i wrote, i realised i wasn't doing anything whatsoever to add that element, so i just rolled with it and continued writing
> 
> kudos and comments are much appreciated! (especially comments, im a hoe for feedback)
> 
>  
> 
> [my tumblr](http://lovelylerman.tumblr.com)


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